How Much Do We Know About Sleep?

How much do you know about sleep? As it turns out, we all know very little about something we spend one-third of our life doing!

Certainly, we know what it feels like to be without sleep, but why is it so important, and how does it even work?

Source: Dr. Lynda (and Dr. Chuck enjoying 2 am at the Miami Airport with two toddlers and a preteen)

Did you know that up until the 1950’s there was no established field of sleep science? This meant that, up until the middle of the 20th Century, we thought that the brain just turned off when we went to sleep, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep was completely undiscovered!

So, what is the history of sleep medicine? And why is it important?

Today we bring you one of our favorite YouTube channels, The Good Stuff, with answers to these questions directly from the father of sleep medicine, William C. Dement.

No wonder it feels like we are constantly hearing new and conflicting information on the best way to sleep.

Reflecting on sleep science, one realizes how young a vast amount of our scientific knowledge is! It is surprising that we don’t see more paradigm shifts in our scientific understanding occurring every few weeks.

How marvelous is it that there are so many interesting things to study out there? From sleep, to the stars, to the sea, we are constantly on the brink of new understandings about our world.

If you liked this video, it is the first in a series of sleep-related videos by The Good Stuff, they are a great watch for anybody who wants to learn more about sleep, why we need it, and how we can improve our sleep!

We hope today gave you a little more perspective on just how much more there is to learn out there!

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Can we control our initial assumptions and impulses? Well no, we actually can’t, but we can understand them and let another part of our brain control our reactions. Here’s a great insight into our own brains!

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